The Manhattan-based real estate investment firm Atlas Capital Group acquired its first Queens property with the $13.5 million purchase of a 75,000-square-foot industrial building in the rapidly developing Queens Plaza submarket.
Atlas closed on the purchase of the two-story property at 24-02 Queens Plaza South from Electric Realty Dec. 9, city property records published yesterday show.
Also last month, a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge in Manhattan approved a plan for Atlas Capital to buy the 13-story Chelsea building at 216 West 18th Street from Harry Jeremias’ struggling Harch Group, court records filed Dec. 29 show. The sale price was not disclosed.
Queens Plaza, the section of Long Island City in the shadow of the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge is changing rapidly, with the opening last year of the $316 million 2 Gotham Center and nearby SL Green Realty plans to sell the 50-story tower 1 Court Square for $476 million.
City Department of Buildings records show Atlas Capital filed plans in November for a $2.15 million square foot rehabilitation of 24-02 Queens Plaza South, at the corner of 24th Street, to prepare it for use by an unidentified trade school. Atlas Capital signed a contract to buy the property in August, city records show.
Atlas was founded in 2006 by Jeffrey Goldberger and Andrew Cohen, both former executives with investment bank UBS. Their company now owns a $2 billion commercial and residential portfolio in Manhattan, Boston, Washington, D.C. and London, including the condominium conversion 845 West End Avenue, the company website says.
Goldberger declined to comment, and representatives from Electric Realty and the Harch Group were not immediately available for comment.
Data firm CoStar Group shows John Reinertsen, a senior vice president at CB Richard Ellis, was the listing broker for the sellers, but he did not return a call seeking comment.